The present invention concerns a distribution unit for a ventilation installation for a vehicle, intended to distribute ventilation air to ventilation orifices in the vehicle, with a housing which is provided with an at least partly cylindrical shell surface and in which a valve device is rotatable via a shaft which is parallel to the shell surface of the housing, in order to control the air flow to at least one outlet placed in the shell surface.
Ventilation installations for vehicles usually include a ventilation housing in which air is introduced and tempered before being supplied by means of a distribution unit to the vehicle's interior via a number of orifices placed at various points in that interior. Such orifices may for example take the form of defroster orifices, instrument panel orifices, vehicle interior orifices and floor orifices. The distribution of ventilation air among the various outlets in the distribution unit is usually accomplished by means of a number of dampers which can be used to close or open these outlets. Such a ventilation installation is therefore of relatively complicated construction with a number of different dampers and control devices. The distribution unit therefore has a bulky and complicated design to be able to accommodate the components involved.
Attempts have been made to simplify the distribution unit by using a valve device in the form of a planar damper to direct the air distribution to three different outlets in the shell surface on the distribution unit housing, but this involves the disadvantage of not being able to control each outlet individually in the same manner as when separate dampers are used.
To achieve simpler construction of the distribution unit while still being able to accomplish individual control of numerous different outlets in a desired sequence, it has been proposed to provide the distribution unit housing with outlets both in the shell surface and in the ends, while the valve device is cylindrical and has a shell surface and ends in which there are apertures which by rotation of the valve device can be made to coincide with corresponding outlets in the shell surface and ends of the housing. A disadvantage of this arrangement, however, is that where numerous outlets are desired the valve device and hence also the housing have to be of relatively great axial length.